<br/>This presentation will describe the history and background to the negotiation and entry into force of the only multilateral treaty to verifiably ban an entire class of weapons of mass destruction - the Chemical Weapons Convention. One hundred years after their first large-scale use on the battlefields of the First World War, chemical weapons are now comprehensively prohibited by a treaty to which 190 states are party. This presentation will describe the programmes and activities of the international organisation created to oversee the implementation of this treaty - the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The OPCW's achievements were recognised by the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. The presentation will conclude with an overview of recent OPCW activities in collaboration with the United Nations to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons and with an overview of the future priorities of the OPCW as, one hundred years after their first use, we are finally moving towards a world free of chemical weapons.

OPCW: Working for a world free of chemical weapons

249th National Meeting (2015)

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